Environment
Need some good news about the environment? The Optimist Daily is your go-to herald of positive environmental news, highlighting eco-friendly solutions and scientific progress around climate action, circularity, conservation, and more. Learn about everything eco in our Environment section.
Parking reform: a win for housing and climate in California
Assembly Bill 2097, signed into law by California Governor Gavin Newsom on Thursday, eliminates parking mandates for residential and commercial developments located within half a mile of major transit stops. Minimum parking requirements raise housing costs, use up valuable land, and make Read More...
Denmark pledges millions to nations disproportionately affected by climate change
Last week, Denmark made a historic move for climate justice by pledging 100 million Danish crowns ($12.9 million) to developing nations damaged by the climate crisis. This makes it the first United Nations member state to offer “loss and damage” compensation. Denmark joins Scotland and the Read More...
Canada’s largest airline purchases electric aircraft
Conventional fuel for transport (air travel, in particular) is one of the most significant contributors to CO2, making the electrification of travel high on the list of priorities in terms of fighting climate change. Air Canada, Canada’s largest airline, demonstrated its commitment to this goal Read More...
New platform CTrees calculates the carbon in every tree on Earth
New startup CTrees uses artificial intelligence to track exactly how much CO2 the world’s three trillion trees are storing, thereby determining the extent to which trees are helping the planet. CTrees, which was developed by a team of NASA scientists, has a very simple motto: “see the forest Read More...
Patagonia’s billionaire founder gives company away to save the planet
Eco-conscious outdoor apparel brand Patagonia has a history of setting the bar high when it comes to environmentally-friendly practices and mindset. Now, the company’s billionaire founder Yvon Chouinard has set the bar even higher by giving away the company to a trust that will allocate its Read More...
Research shows that foods that are good for us are also good for the planet
It comes as no surprise that since the dawn of the pandemic, people all over the world began typing “immunity boosting foods” into search engines. In fact, these searches rose by 350 percent. The results? It turns out that some of the food items that were popping up over and over again are also Read More...
Dutch city is the first in the world to ban meat ads in public spaces
The undeniable environmental cost of keeping livestock and producing meat (along with the many health benefits of a plant-based diet) are compelling reasons for many to cut out or at least reduce their meat consumption. However, the average meat-lover's resolve to go veggie is probably Read More...
This crop actually benefits from being shaded by solar panels
Solar panels often take up a lot of real estate that is also optimal for growing crops (flat land with access to lots of sunlight). Instead of having panels compete with plants, there is a growing field called agrivoltaics that studies how solar power and agriculture can exist together and even Read More...
MIT researchers develop cost-effective battery made of common materials
The environmental benefits of using electricity rather than fossil fuels to power our world goes without saying— however, the process of electrifying everything has its obstacles. One of the greatest obstacles is the limited resources of lithium, nickel, and cobalt which are all used to create Read More...
Hunger stones, dino tracks, and lost cities; discoveries exposed by drought
The severe droughts that are plaguing many parts of the world are altering life as we know it. Even though the climate crisis and the warming planet may end our civilization, the silver lining is that it's led to the resurfacing of archaeological treasures that may have remained secret Read More...